The Science of Self Realization
According to material vision, our beloved spiritual master, guide, and friend His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda passed away from this world on November 14, 1977, but actually he is still present. As Śrīla Prabhupāda often pointed out, there are two ways of associating with the spiritual master: through his physical presence (vapu) and through his instructions (vāṇī). Sometimes we can associate with the spiritual master through his physical presence and sometimes not, but we can always associate with him through his instructions
From the very start, I knew that His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda was the most extraordinary person I had ever met. The first meeting occurred in the summer of 1966, in New York City. A friend had invited me to hear a lecture by "an old Indian svāmī" on lower Manhattan's Bowery. Overwhelmed with curiosity about a svāmī lecturing on skid row, I went there and felt my way up a pitch-black staircase. A bell-like, rhythmic sound got louder and clearer as I climbed higher. Finally I reached the fourth floor and opened the door, and there he was.
"Who is Śrīla Prabhupāda?" people often ask, and it is always a hard question to answer. For Śrīla Prabhupāda always eclipsed conventional designations. At various times people have called him a scholar, a philosopher, a cultural ambassador, a prolific author, a religious leader, a spiritual teacher, a social critic, and a holy man. In truth, he was all these things and more. Certainly no one could ever have confused him with the modern entrepreneurial "gurus" who come to the West with slickly packaged, watered-down versions of Eastern spirituality (to satisfy our urge for instant well-being and exploit our well-documented spiritual naivete.) Śrīla Prabhupāda was, rather, a true holy man (sādhu) of deep intellectual and spiritual sensitivity—he had deep concern and compassion for a society which, to such a large degree, lacks real spiritual dimension.
Who are you?... Are you your body? Or your mind? Or are you something higher? Do you know who you are, or do you merely think you know? And does it really matter? Our materialistic society, with its unenlightened leadership, has made it virtually taboo to inquire into our real, higher self. Instead we use our valuable time maintaining, decorating, and pampering the body for its own sake. Might there be an alternative?
On hearing the word guru, we tend to envision a caricaturelike image: a bizarre-looking old fellow with a long, stringy beard and flowing robes, meditating on distant, esoteric truths. Or we think of a cosmic con man cashing in on young seekers’ spiritual gullibility. But what really is a guru? What does he know that we don’t? How does he enlighten us? In a talk given in England in 1973, Śrīla Prabhupāda provides some enlightening answers.
Through the centuries, India’s greatest philosophers and spiritualists have praised the Bhagavad-gītā as the distilled essence of the eternal Vedic wisdom. In his Meditations on the Bhagavad-gītā, versified here, the renowned sixth-century philosopher Śaṅkara glorifies the Gītā and its divine author, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Although universally celebrated as an impersonalist, here Śaṅkara reveals his devotion to the original personal form of God, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. And Śrīla Prabhupāda elucidates.
In 1974, near ISKCON’s center in Frankfurt am Main, West Germany, Śrīla Prabhupāda and several of his disciples took a morning walk with father Emmanuel Jungclaussen, a Benedictine monk from Niederalteich Monastery. Noticing that Śrīla Prabhupāda was carrying meditation beads similar to the rosary, Father Emmanuel explained that he also chanted a constant prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, be merciful unto us.” The following conversation ensued.
The goals of modern-day Western yoga enthusiasts are dwarfed by the achievements of India’s ancient yogīs, who, according to historical accounts, could become smaller than atoms and lighter than air and who could travel, unaided, anywhere in the universe. Yet even these superachievements, says Śrīla Prabhupāda, are “only a step forward.” How the true pinnacle of human consciousness, superconsciousness, is obtainable—here and now—is disclosed by Śrīla Prabhupāda in the following talk given in 1967.
Every year the world spends more money on crime prevention and control. Yet despite these efforts crime rates are soaring, and notably in American public schools, crime has reached almost uncontrollable levels. In this July 1975 discussion with Lieutenant David Mozee, media relations officer for the Chicago Police Department, Śrīla Prabhupāda proposed an amazingly simple yet practical solution to the seemingly insurmountable problem of crime.
Several years after Śrīla Prabhupāda first arrived in America, a disciple discovered the diary he had kept during his passage from India on the steamship Jaladuta. Inside was a poem, handwritten in Bengali, that Śrīla Prabhupāda had written on board the ship just after it had arrived in Boston harbor. The poem beautifully captures Śrīla Prabhupāda’s first impressions of Western civilization and reveals his heartfelt determination to change the consciousness of America.
Every thoughtful human being asks the fundamental question, “What is the purpose of life?” Unfortunately, our difficulty in finding ultimate meaning is compounded by the fact that thousands of conflicting philosophies, religions, and ideologies and their proponents compete for our loyalty. Here Śrīla Prabhupāda provides some simple and enlightening guidance.
From the back cover
In this book you will discover the timeless science that great teachers have spoken for millennia. The Science of Self-Relization opens up the secrets of the self within, nature of the universe, and the Supreme Self within and without. Here the world’s most distinguished teacher of the science of self-realization talks about meditating and practicing yoga in the modern age, gaining liberation from the law of karma, achieving superconsciousness, and much more. In all the interviews, lectures, essays, and letters chosen for this special book, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda speaks with startling clarity and power. He proves just how relevant the science of self-realization is to today’s world and your own life.
Appreciations of Srīla Prabhupāda’s Work
Over the years many people have expressed their appreciation for Śrīla Prabhupāda’s work—bringing India’s timeless science of self-realization to the West.
“His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda is doing valuable work, and his books are significant contributions to the salvation of mankind.”
“Swami Bhaktivedanta brings to the West a salutary reminder that our highly activistic and one-sided culture is faced with a crisis that may end in self-destruction because it lacks the inner depth of an authentic metaphysical consciousness. Without such depth, our moral and political protestations are just so much verbiage.”
“In the diversity of religious approaches offered by the yogis of India the most significant of course is the way of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, shown by Śrīla Prabhupāda Bhaktivedanta Swami, tenth teacher in the tradition of Mahāprabhu Caitanya. It is amazing to see how Śrī Bhaktivedanta Swami has in less than ten years succeeded by his personal devotion and single-minded dedication to the task, untiring energy and efficient direction, in organizing the International Society for Krishna Consciousness having thousands of devotees, opening the Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa temples in the major cities of the world and writing numerous works on the bhakti-yoga as taught by Sri Kṛṣṇa and Sri Caitanya.”
“A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda is a prestigious master and heir to a great tradition.”
“Words fail me to describe the height of scholarship and devotion manifest in Śrīla Prabhupāda’s vast writings. Our future generations will definitely find a better world to live in through the efforts of Śrīla Prabhupāda. He stands for international brotherhood and the spiritual integration of all mankind. The literary world outside India, particularly of the West, is indebted to Śrīla Prabhupāda, who has so scientifically acquainted them with what is best in Kṛṣṇa conscious India.”
“As a native of India now living in the West, it has given me much grief to see so many of my fellow countrymen coming to the West in the role of gurus and spiritual leaders. Just as any ordinary man in the West becomes conscious of Christian culture from his very birth, any ordinary man in India becomes familiar with the principles of meditation and yoga from his very birth. Unfortunately, many unscrupulous persons come from India, exhibit their imperfect and ordinary knowledge of yoga, cheat the people with their wares consisting of mantras, and present themselves as incarnations of God. So many of these cheaters have come convincing their foolish followers to accept them as God, that those who are actually well-versed and learned in Indian culture have become very concerned and troubled. For this reason, I am very excited to see the publications of Śrī A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda. They will help to stop the terrible cheating of false and unauthorized ‘gurus’ and ‘yogis’, and will give an opportunity to all people to understand the actual meaning of Oriental culture.”
“The books of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda are not only beautiful, but also relevant to our times, as we as a nation search for new cultural patterns for our way of life.”
“It is a great honor for me to have the pleasure of examining the publications of the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, which I find to be of exeptional value for use in educational institutions and libraries. I particularly recommend the ancient classic Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to all students and professors of Indian philosophy and culture. The learned author, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, is a world renowned saint and savant in the field of Vedic philosophy and its practical application in the modern world. He has established over one hudred spiritual ashrams, for the study and cultivation of Vedic knowledge, throughout the world. Factually, he is unequaled in his efforts to establish the Vedic way of life, sanātana-dharma, in all countries of the world. Certainly, I am most grateful that this message of the Bhāgavata is being spread for the benefit of the world by such a qualified personality as Swami Bhaktivedanta.”
“Swami Bhaktivedanta has offered to devotees of God a blessed service with his English translations and commentaries.The universal application of these truths is shown to be a promised blessing in these times of challenge when light is illumining darkness. Truly this is a holy, inspired writing for all aspiring souls seeking the why, whence and whither of life!”
“… As a successor in direct line from Caitanya, the author is entitled, accrding to Indian custom, to the majestic title of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda. Swami Prabhupāda possesses total mastery of the Sanskrit language. The great interest that his reading of the Bhagavad-gītā holds for us is that it offers us an authorized interpretation according to the principles of the Caitanya tradition. … This appreciation, coming from a Christian philosopher and Indologist, is a gesture of sincere friendship.”
“I have read Śrī Bhaktivedanta Swami’s books with great care, attention, and profound interest, and have found them to be of incalculable value to anyone who is curious about India’s spiritual and cultural heritage. The author of these books displays on every page an astounding scholarship in the subjects treated, and also an understanding and ease of exposition of abstruse ideas, which are rarest gifts of a man who has been rigorously brought up in the schools of Vaiṣṇava philosophy and has absorbed its teachings so fully that he seems to have reached the highest state of spiritual illumination only few blessed souls achieve.”
“Undoubtedly, the work of Swamiji is a great contribution to the troubled human society of today’s world.”
“The appearance of an English translation of Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Goswami’s Śrī Caitanya-caritāmrta by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda is a cause for celebration among both scholars in Indian studies and lay people seeking to enrich their knowledge of Indian spirituality.”
“… Anyone who gives a close reading to the commentary will sense that here, as in his other works, Śrī Bhaktivedanta has combined a healthy mixture of the fervent devotion and aesthetic sensitivity of a devotee and the intellectual rigor of a textual scholar.”
“… These exquisitely wrought volumes will be a welcome addition to the libraries of all persons who are committed to the study of Indian spirituality and religious literature, whether their interests are sparked by the motivations of the scholar, the devotee or the general reader.”